Treatment of fabric webs with liquid



June 14, 1966 A. BISANG TREATMENT OF FABRIC WEBS- WITH LI UIb Filed Jan. 20, 1964 m DE United States Patent 3,255,617 TREATMENT OF FABRIC WEBS WITH LIQUID Adolf Bisang, Uzwil, St. Gallen, Switzerland, assignor to Maschinenfabrik Benninger A.-G., Uzwil, St. Gallen Switzerland Filed Jan. 20, 1964, Ser. No. 338,977 3 Claims. (01. 68-175) In the continuous treatment of fabric webs by means of liquids, particularly in the dyeing of fabrics by the continuous method by passing them through a dye-bath, there is always the problem of how the web can be removed from the treating liquid without also entraining the liquid itself.

It is conceivable, and has already been proposed for certain purposes, to guide the web into an upwardly open container filled with the treating liquid and to guide it upwardly out therefrom. .This arrangement has various disadvantages, however, particularly in dyeing, including an excessive requirement of space.

The so-called Foulard process has succeeded widely, in which the dye-bath is located in the space between two, three or four successively-arranged or mutually-contacting press rolls, which are enclosed laterally by side wall members. The web to be dyed passes between a pair of press rolls into the space with the dye-bath and leaves this again through a press roll pair which squeezes excess dye out of the web. In comparison with the first-mentioned containers, the Foulard process has the considerable advantage that it requires a very small quantity of dye-bath. On the other hand, damage to the press rolls by the sealing devices incessantly sliding thereon occurs very frequently. Finally, in the Foulard process, lateral sealing of the dyebath container has not been achieved satisfactorily and is only possible, in any case at great expense.

The present invention has the object of providing a device for the continuous treatment of fabric webs withliquids, particularly for dyeing by means of dye-baths, which combines the advantages of prior art devices without having their disadvantages.

For this purpose, the device of the invention includes an upright container for receiving .the dye-bath, which includes in its base an opening which is so arranged as to allow the passage of a web through the container without also allowing escape of liquid.

Such an upright, upwardly-open container, which needs only a small quantity of dye-bath, because the web does not need to change direction but can run straight through from top to bottom, is completely independent of the press rolls and so can be located at any convenient position.

Also, the container can be provided with fixed side walls, which make no contact with moving parts and thus cause no Wear nor can become damaged themselves.

According to a preferred feature, the container can be made U-shape in cross-section, the limbs of the U being formed by the longitudinal side walls of the container, a

flexible lip, e.g. a rubber lip, being secured to each lower edge, mutually opposed portions of the two lips forming the opening in the base of the container.

The two lips are desirably urged together by springloaded lever arms, the pressure being made adjustable by means of regulating devices which alter the spring forces.

In the accompanying drawing, an embodiment of a device according to the invention is shown by way of example; in the drawing:

FIG. 1 shows a cross-section through the device;

FIG. 2 shows a fragmentary side view of the device;

FIG. 3 shows a fragmentary plan view of the device.

The device shown comprises an upright container, indicated generally at 1, for receiving a treatment liquid,

3,255,617 Patented June 14, 1966 specifically a dye-bath 2. The length of this container 1 is greater than the largest width dimension of the fabric webs to be treated. Such a web is indicated at B. Viewed in cross-section, the container 1 approximates in shape to a high U, the longitudinal walls 3 and 4 of the container forming the upright limbs of the U. At its lower edge, each wall 3, 4 is bent inwardly, as shown at 3a, 4a,,these angled portions 3a, 4a forming the base of the U. This bending or the size of the angled sections 3a, 4a is so arranged that a gap 5 remains therebetween, which extends along the whole length of the base of the container 1. The web B arrives over a deflector roll 6, located above the container 1, passes from the top to the bottom of the container and leaves the container through the gap 5, whereafter it passes between a pair of press rolls 7.

At both ends, the container 1 is closed by opposed side walls, one of which is shown at 8 in FIG. 2. These side walls can be Welded to the walls 3, 4. Sealing'of the gap 5 downwardly to prevent egress of the liquid disposed in the container 1 is made by two flexible lips, e.g. rubber lips 9, 10. The lip 9 is secured to the angled portion 3a of the wall 3 and the lip 10 to the angled portion 4a of the wall 4 of the container, e.g. by screws or bolts 11. The straight downwardly extending end portions of the rubber lips 9, 10 mutually abut and additionally are resiliently urged together by lever arms 12, 13 which are pivotally mounted on the container 1 at 14, 15 and are subjected to the action of compression springs 16, 17. The pressure exerted on the rubber lips by the levers 12, 13 is adjustable by means-of regulating screws 19, 20, by which the spring compression can be altered, so that they allow the Web but not the liquid to pass out of the container through the gap 5.

The open top of the container 1 is surrounded by a tank 21 which serves as an overflow container.

Between the tank 21 and the lever arms 12, 13, the container in the embodiment shown is surrounded by an enclosed chamber 23 thermally insulated by means of an insulation layer 22 and containing a heating coil 24, by which the liquid 2 in the container 1 can be heated. The supply of heating medium, e.g. steam or hot water, is made through a pipe 26 (FIG. 2) which is connected to a nipple 25 attached to the chamber 23.

Another nipple 27 is provided on the side wall 8 of the container 1, through which fresh treatment liquid can be supplied via a supply pipe 28.

An overflow pipe 29 is secured .to the overflow tank 21, via which excess treatment liquid, e.g. that squeezed out in the nip between the press rolls 7 in a Foulard, can be recycled.

The advantages of the arrangement described over the prior art devices discussed above are clear.

The device of the invention can be located completely independently in any position in the path of movement of the fabric web where this runs vertically downwards.

The high narrow shape of the container provides a convenient ratio of container contents to simultaneously treated web surface, in other words virtually no unused space is present. Prevention of the escape of treatment liquid is considerably simpler than in the Fou-lard process and the sealing arrangements, formed by the rubber lips in the device described, may be so adjusted as to their spring pressure that the web can be passedbetween them without any treatment liquid leaving the container between the lips and the web, and also are not subjected to any appreciable wear.

As shown in FIG. 3, the container 1, the overflow tank 21 and the chamber 23 are preferably formed in two halves. The end walls 8 of the container 1 are each provided with a flange 30, one half being provided at the flanges with a pivotable set screw 31 and associated wing nut, by means of which the two halves can be screwed together. In this way, the device can be readily taken apart, e.g. for cleaning purposes, and then re-assembled.

I claim:

1. A device for the continuous treatment of a fabric web with liquids comprising an upright container for receiving the dye bath, said container being of U-shape in cross section and having two parallel side walls, the bottom end of each side wall over the whole length thereof being downwardly extended by a flexible lip, said two lips being opposite each other and defining a slit opening for the passage of the web, each side wall of the container having pivotally mounted thereon a plate extending the whole length of said container, each plate having a lower edge abutting upon one of the lips over the whole length of the lip, and spring means acting on said pivotally mounted plates to cause the ends thereof to urge said flexible lips towards each other against the web passing therebetween.

2. A device according to claim 1 wherein regulating means are provided for adjusting the pressure exerted by said spring means.

3. A device according to claim 2 wherein said spring 4 means comprise a plurality of springs spaced throughout the width of said plates and each spring is provided with said regulating means so as to be able to vary the pressure exerted on said flexible lips according to local requirements.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 890,252 6/ 1908 Thompson. 1,712,770 5/1929 Koch 118-405 1,917,065 7/1933 Rusden 68-62 2,460,206 1/ 1949 Wentz 68-15 X 2,693,689 11/1954 Hannay et a]. 68-15 X 2,766,721 10/1956 Paquette 118-405 2,784,583 3/1957 Dungler 68-15 2,851,373 9/1958 Tregay et a1 118-404 X 3,126,724 3/1964 Kolonits 685.5 3,137,151 6/1964 Yoshiike 68-55 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,071,898 3/1954 France.

IRVING BUNEVICH, Primary Examiner. 

1. A DEVICE FOR THE CONTINUOUS TREATMENT OF A FABRIC WEB WITH LIQUIDS COMPRISING AN UPRIGHT CONTAINER FOR RECEIVING THE DYE BATH, SAID CONTAINER BEING U-SHAPED IN CROSS SECTION AND HAVING TWO PARALLEL SIDE WALLS, THE BOTTOM END OF EACH SIDE WALL OVER THE WHOLE LENGTH THEREOF BEING DOWNWARDLY EXTENDED BY A FLEXIBLE LIP, SAID TWO LIPS BEING OPPOSITE EACH OTHER AND DEFINING A SLIT OPENING FOR THE PASSAGE OF THE WEB, EACH SIDE WALL OF THE CONTAINER HAVING PIVOTALLY MOUNTED THEREON A PLATE EXTENDING THE WHOLE LENGTH OF SAID CONTAINER, EACH PLATE HAVING A LOWER EDGE ABUTTING UPON ONE OF THE LIPS OVER THE WHOLE LENGTH OF THE LIP, AND SPRING MEANS ACTING ON SAID PIVOTALLY MOUNTED PLATES TO CAUSE THE ENDS THEREOF TO URGE SAID FLEXIBLE LIPS TOWARDS EACH OTHER AGAINST THE WEB PASSING THEREBETWEEN. 